Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Ain't this the truth?

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I wonder if I am going against the grain: Upon my move into a larger apartment, or house, I want to plunk down some serious cash for a multi-part stereo system with speakers that reach at least to my knees. I also want a good turntable--some music just sounds better on vinyl. And big headphones--no earbuds at all, which make compressed music files sound even worse. Nothing against the new tech--I have my digital music devices--but I need something that would make a black light poster feel at home!

Am I the only one that still listens to real, tangible CDs? Or records?

I do have an iPod, which I use for certain things like going for a bike ride, walk or similar (it's basically just a new-fangled walkman, in my mind), but I find the quality of music files to be less than ideal...

Plus, it seems that every time I finally get all my CDs loaded on the computer it crashes within a month or two, and I'm back to square one... I know a couple people that decided to get rid of their CDs after they loaded them, thinking they had digital copies of them and no longer had a need for the actual CDs... Only to have their computer crash and be left with nothing...

Plus, it's just the simple aspect of being able to hold something, as opposed to digits on a chip... And I like album covers ;-)

Because they are. And then you have people listening out of those dumb earbuds--not only do they give you an awful experience of music, but they force everyone else to listen to your music. But better quality digital music requires much more space on your computer. Even after all these decades screwing with my hearing by listening to the heaviest of heavy metal, I can still often tell the difference between a compressed file and other forms.

"Only to have their computer crash and be left with nothing..."

Like everything else, backup your music.

"Plus, it's just the simple aspect of being able to hold something, as opposed to digits on a chip... And I like album covers ;-)"

I am with you. But what I miss the most is the album mentality of music--making a sonic object that is greater than the sum of its parts. I don't mean to be nostalgic--old albums often had a lot of filler, and before the late 1960s, there was more of a singles mentality, but still, I do miss that musical mindset, which I think has weakened in the last decade or so.

Dear god, yes. I was a wee person when 8 tracks were common, but man, there was something about them.

Forget cassettes, though. They can stay in the trash. At least 8 Tracks had character, the presence of those wide lapels from the time, the bell bottoms--the sense of bulk perhaps common to the 70s. Cassettes had all the romance of a glorified floppy disc.

I have a CD player in my car, but don't listen to it much while driving (I have done it, though, and yes, Bruce L, some of us still listen to CDs!), I listen to the radio. Keeps me alert better. Once I was on my way out to my sister's house in Wheeling (years ago; she lives in Northbrook now), and was listening to the (at that time) new Tony Bennett/kd lang CD "A Wonderful World". I was lulled into a state of higher consciousness, and ended up missing the turnoff from the Kennedy to 294, and ended up in or near Schaumburg. It took me forever (or what seemed like it) to get back towards Milwaukee & Dundee where they lived!

My car (2012 Nissan Rogue) has a rather large black square that displays the station & time in only a small part of the square. I have a navigation system, and I find that I often display the map (not the directions/talking, though, just the map) to have something to fill that big black void (the station/time still displays at the top). So I think I much prefer all the buttons, etc to the black hole as pictured above.

The problem with the second picture is that you have to deal with the device itself while driving -- a pain in the ass. Not much more of a pain than those ugly, tiny-buttoned, infuriating aftermarket jobs pictured at the top, perhaps, but much more than a manufacturer's stereo, with its generous display and large buttons and knobs. My car has an aux. input, but it also has an iPod/iPhone connector that enables you to control the device using the car's stereo. The only problems with it is that it often hiccups at the very beginning of a track if the music starts immediately, and it doesn't allow you to read hidden text that won't fit on the screen.

As for CDs, my main complaint about their departure is that I want the freakin' liner notes. The only downloads that have a text supplement that I've seen are operas that include a digital libretto (which, of course, is more of a pain than just having the booklet). I can't really attest to better sound from the CDs. Over good equipment, iTunes fine to me. There may be technical differences in quality, but, honestly, how much of that is something an ordinary person is even physically capable of hearing at all, much less caring a lot about.

"There may be technical differences in quality, but, honestly, how much of that is something an ordinary person is even physically capable of hearing at all, much less caring a lot about."

Maybe not an ordinary person, but plenty of music freaks. Some it comes from hearing well-heard songs via different formats, I am sure. But certain favorite albums certainly sound, uh, less full on digital.

It's not a tragedy, not given the portability of digital music, but is it an issue among the music freaks I break bread with.

It's a statement on the changes in the music industry at the time... if you listen to the lyrics right before "man was shot dead"...

"The percentage you're paying is too high priced
While you're living beyond all you're means
And the man in the suit has just bought a new car
From the profit he's made on your dreams"

This was a period when music was becoming overly commercialized, so rock stars were making big money to sell out while the "real" musicians who stayed true to their roots were being trampled upon by the industry... Music execs were making gads of money off churning out the next rock band, but not because of their style... the exact opposite; by co-opting their style and making them the same as the last popular band...

Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" speaks to this exact same premise and the state of the industry in the early to mid 70's (but retrospective from late 70's, as someone who had already gone through it)...

And you'll notice that Traffic on Low Spark brought in a few Mussel Shoals players (they'd go on to record there in the future too), a place where the music stayed more true to itself and was less susceptible to being "dumbed down" for the the general public... you know, "pop" music ;-)

The car stereo I wanted 10 years ago had a knob to adjust the volume, a knob or at least clearly visible buttons to tune with, preselect buttons for my favorite stations, decent sound quality, good station selectivity, AM and FM bands, and a CD player.

The car stereo I want today has that plus an auxiliary port and maybe a USB port.

And yes, vise77, I'm with you on the sound system too. You could always put a little ceremonial square of shag carpet in front of the turntable. :-)

I'll allow that compressed downloads don't have the same quality as CDs, even though I doubt that all but the most finicky connoisseur could tell the difference, and the web does not reveal to me a blind listening test that proves otherwise. (I think that every supposed audiophile who goes on about this topic needs to submit to such a test, where they listen to a variety of music samples of various genres over the same high-quality equipment twice, once from a CD and once from an iTunes compressed download (no going back and replaying a bunch of times) and are then asked to say which sample they think is the CD and which the download. Without at least a 90% success rate, I'm going to say that the emperor, while not completely naked, is badly underdressed.)

But don't get me started on records! There is nothing, absolutely nothing, good about vinyl, except that records come in that neat giant sleeve, and it can be fun to play with a turntable before it drives you nuts. I grew up listening to records. They scratch, they degrade with every use, you have to flip them and clean them, and they don't sound better. CDs sound better, which is why when they introduced CDs, it was like a gift from heaven. The idea that records are more pure is a fallacy based on an assumption that the recording process was analog, which is no longer true for anything, and that anyone could possibly sense digital sampling vs. analog continuity anyway. I know people who laud the "richness" and "warmth" of records, without considering that the warmth they're hearing and think they like isn't a true reproduction, but rather an artifact. AM is warmer too!

p.s. vise, if you're considering a serious system, I would make a visit to the good people at Audio Consultants. Since you break bread with music freaks, you probably already know about them. Music freaks work there. They're the Chicago dealer of Magnepan electrostatic speakers, which are awesome -- look cool and sound great and start out reasonably priced -- and they sell all manner of other high-end products besides and are easy to work with.

I had one of those 8-track to cassette thingies for my parents' stereo. The playback speed was a little faster than it was supposed to be, and so the songs would play a half step or so higher than normal. Really irritating when you were used to hearing the song on the radio in a different key. I think it required its own battery, too.

" (I think that every supposed audiophile who goes on about this topic needs to submit to such a test, where they listen to a variety of music samples of various genres over the same high-quality equipment twice, once from a CD and once from an iTunes compressed download (no going back and replaying a bunch of times) "

I haven't done it at such an experimental level, but my own long experience at home--with digital, CDs, different devices and different headphones, and with new and long beloved albums--indicate there is a noticeable difference. That led to an early decision to never use earbubs, and to listen to classical music via the CDs rather than a compressed file, among other changes.

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
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Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.